Robin’s Reviews – 2026

If you’ve ever wished for more control over your circumstances and the lives of those around you (haven’t we all?), then you may enjoy reading THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF MAGIC by Harper Ross.

Book Summary

Emerson Clarke’s father, a famous author, has recently died. She’s a successful ghostwriter, but she hasn’t taken the jump into publishing under her own name. As she goes through her father’s things, Emerson finds and takes home his vintage typewriter which he had forbidden anyone to use.

With her father’s recent death, her mother’s alcoholism, her teen daughter shutting her out, and a looming deadline for work, Emerson is overwhelmed. She wishes she could control her circumstances and the choices of those around her to create her perfect life. She types a wish on her father’s typewriter. When the wish comes true, she types another, just to make sure it wasn’t a coincidence. Wishing is dangerous since she can’t control how the wishes play out, and there’s a price to be paid each time she asks for something.

Emerson feels guilty manipulating others and taking away their rights to make their own choices. Her guilt raises a question in her mind—how much was her father manipulating her life?

Could the wishes coming true simply be coincidences? A self-fulfilling prophesy from her desire for these things to be true?

Emerson must decide what to do with the typewriter. Can she avoid its provocative allure?

Trigger Warnings: death of a parent, dysfunctional family, alcoholism, abortion

My Thoughts

I recommend THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF MAGIC by Harper Ross. If you’re considering reading it, be aware that the title is deceptive. If you’re looking for a book with wizards and spells, this isn’t it. This isn’t fantasy, as one might assume from the title. It’s magical realism, meaning the story takes place in our ordinary world, but an element that doesn’t exist in our world exists in this one. In this case, the element is a magical typewriter that grants wishes.  THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF MAGIC is more about family dynamics than magic.

One theme is about letting go of control, the struggle to stop trying to control the uncontrollable. It’s also about how every person, including those you love, have faults. The book reminds us how others need our help and forgiveness, not our judgment.

Several heavy issues enter the lives of the characters. One in particular toward the end is a controversial topic. The decision a character makes, whether you personally believe it is right or wrong, is one she’ll have to live with. She will have to deal with the consequences, just like we must do with our choices in real life.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this novel. The opinions are my own.

THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF MAGIC by Harper Ross comes out January 27, 2026. Pre-ordering is VERY helpful to authors. I suggest ordering through Bookshop.org since they help support small, independent bookstores across the country. Order here.

About the Author

Harper Ross left her legal practice to raise her children. That’s when she discovered her creative side. She writes books with a dash of everyday magic while exploring friendship, family, and forgiveness.

Her website says when she’s not writing, she’s probably singing badly in her car, dancing in her kitchen, or walking her adorable dog. THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF MAGIC is her debut novel.

If You Like…

If you think THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF MAGIC by Harper Ross sounds interesting, check out my past recommendations: The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman,  The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer,  Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young, and Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber.

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